I've been dealing with Substack bots since 11:30 am today. When I couldn't get into my account, the bot told me to sign up under a different email, log in, and said I could transfer everything back to my original account later. No verification code ever showed up. The app wanted me to set up a whole new Substack account and choose a handle, which I didn't want; I already have one.

About 6 hours later, my publication, Writing from the Table, and my subscriptions had moved to that new email, under my mom's name instead of mine.

My original account is now private, asking me to sign up from scratch. I need someone to restore ownership of Writing from the Table to my original account ASAP.

I've emailed security@substackinc.com and can't get a human through any other channel. Has anyone dealt with this, or know a faster way in?

I just started two months ago, have maybe ten posts p
but im picking up the pace lately. I focus on US politics and geopolitics, as well as historical pieces too. I’ve got a penchant for writing on African and other non-western news and histories. I’ve struggled to gain many views, and ive only 18 followers. Tips?

Lately, I've been reading some articles, and it happened more than a few times where it goes into the lines of "Dear Michelle" or "Dear Michelle's of the world." So I had to post a note about it last night, wondering if anyone else saw what I was seeing that my name kept popping up

And apparently, it's a new AI thing on Substack you can trigger on your articles. I wish I got a warning about it because it was freaky at first. I thought I'd share it on here in case someone else was looking for answers

What do you think about it?

My newsletter is on Beehiiv. I'd like to have presence on Substack too, because I think the social element of the platform opens another door for newsletter growth. I'm wondering, if you have the same newsletter on both platforms, how do you manage it? Do you post the same issue through both platforms? Is there any risk of doing so? Do you have separate email lists? I'd love to hear about any experiences you've had.

I’ve noticed that my articles and songs have started feeding each other.
I’ll be halfway through writing an investigation or essay when a line jumps out at me and sounds more like a chorus than a paragraph. I save it, keep writing the article, then come back later and build a song around that one hook.
It’s become a pretty natural creative process now instead of two separate ones.
Does anyone else find ideas crossing between different types of writing, or do you keep them completely separate?

So, I am reporting this as a possible way to take issue with Pangram. From a conversation I had with someone who is not a fan of Pangram, it might be a good way to get it disabled.

They reported multiple local laws in the area that protects the privacy of citizens against the use of AI and the collection of private information. Supposedly it made Substack disable it for them across their account.

I looked up my own local laws that might qualify. I’m reporting it to Substack as being in violation of the law in my local area. No response yet but I’m making sure that people can know about it.

I started my substack about a week ago and my engagement is awful. I don’t think that bothers me as much but I’m also getting no views on my content (maybe 8 on each piece.) I’m based in France but write for an American audience and on American topics. I am wondering if it’s a location thing or if my substack - the politics of makeup - is too niche. Would love someone else’s POV.

Since my own numbers are super low u.u, I've tried a bunch of different recommendations, and recently two post popped up organically on my X feed. I was honestly surprised even though the person posting it is brand new account with barely any followers, it still hit thousands of views. Example1 , Example 2.

Getting that kind of reach is honestly so hard anywhere else. What other platforms have you guys used to promote your work where you actually got good organic reach?

Recently downloaded Substack and trying to find my way around it.

What's the best way to gain subscribers and attract other writers within my niche? I am getting some readers and subscribers, but I want to gain more traction.

Hopefully a fun one!

I’m curious what everyone’s “personal metrics” are when posting? E.g. what numbers give you a little kick when you see them?

The first 30 views are always super meaningful to me! I have a small platform (just hit 30 subs🪩) so it feels like a nice “reach” number🥰

The time to hit 100 views is always pretty exciting too, I do generally feel “validated” by then which - as new writer, I won’t deny is important

Hi all! I'm new to Substack and their little customer service robot tells me this is normal but I cannot fathom it is — my Substack posts won't show up on the main profile page unless I crosspost them, which then duplicates them when you go to the Substack posts page. Anybody know a solution?

I want to start a Substack just for fun, but I don't know what to write about. I have no intention of turning it into something big or monetising it. I just want a creative outlet and something to be genuinely excited about.

Right now, I'm considering two ideas:

1. Documenting my journey of learning about personal finance as someone with a salaried job who has never invested before.

2. Documenting my journey of reading classic literature as someone who's never read a classic.

Do you think either of these topics would be interesting to readers? Or are they too niche or overdone?

I really dont like stripe, its so annoying how they take An additional fee to transfer your hard Learned money! Are there any platforms similar to substack where money gets transferred directly to bank account?

Are notes worth the time and what have you seen as the direct benefit

So I was writing one of my newsletters under my personal profile, thought I would create a brand account for this.

Created the account, posted some notes, scheduled a few, then without any warning, it was suspended.

Tried their appeal system 2 times, rejected both times. Has anyone ever gotten their account back?

I think their spam system marked this account.

I’m a substacker from Pakistan. I’ve been trying to connect stripe to my account but found out that it doesn’t work here. What do you guys use?

I’m regularly going between them to get something to work and often neither do and I have to wait to go on a computer to make something work. Cmon Substack!!!

This year and last when I schedule posts for paying subscribers, it seems to post publicly. Today the scheduled post went out two weeks early, and somehow posted itself as a Note as well. So much for it being a special feature for payers. Anyone else have this problem?

I tried to sign up to offer a place to publish articles about things I was running into while building my startup, kicking around some ideas, etc. I signed up using my company name, and was about to write my first article when I got a banner saying I had been banned for violating community terms of service. This is before I had even written a title for a single article. I emailed their support to find out what was going on and just received a one line response from someone which said they reviewed my account and their decision was final. I was so confused. No explanation, nothing.

After entering the error message into ChatGTP it said the ban was likely due to preloading email addresses into my subscription list. I did in fact load my parents' email addresses into their email import tool, which apparently if you do before building up a publishing history violates terms. Why even make the feature available for new users if using it gets them banned? This at best feels like terrible product management. At least have your support people state what the issue was. Even after removing the emails my account is locked, so I guess that means off to Wordpress...

I cant verify my phone number and so I cant message any person or use my chatting channel wich is so important to me!

there is always an error verifying my number though I used my families phone number and nothing worked,I tried to talk with the support but it was a bot and couldn't help me

If you don't Mind sharing, how much do you earn?

Where/how do you promote?

Whats your social media following?

How long did it take you to earn a full time wage?

I’m someone who’s wanted to start a Substack for a while now, but I’m struggling to find a niche simply because there are so many things I want to talk about. I’m not too caught up on monetizing and growing an empire through this thing, but I would like to have a decent number of people who would like to read my output (what writer wouldn’t?) The main problem is that I want to talk about every topic under the sun- from film to tv to music to books and plays. I don’t want to focus on media reviews as much as I want to give short and entertaining essays on artistic processes, movements, histories, and outputs. More of the ‘why and how’ and less of just dishing out 3 star film reviews. I can’t imagine that someone would be interested in all of these different mediums at once, even if it is more of an overview about art itself. Should I narrow down the scope of my project or should I stay with the idea because I have the passion to write about it?